MBOSE Class 12 Question Paper 2020 for English Alternative

Total No. of Printed Pages—12
HS/XII/A. Sc. Com./Ae/20

2020

ALTERNATIVE ENGLISH

Full Marks : 100

Time : 3 hours

The figures in the margin indicate full marks for the questions

General Instructions :

(i) Write all the answers in the Answer Script.

(ii) Attempt Part—A (Objective Questions) serially.

(iii) Attempt all parts of a question together at one place.

( PART : A—OBJECTIVE )
( Marks : 50 )

SECTION—I
( Marks : 30 )

1. Fill in the blanks by choosing the right word from the
alternatives given in the brackets (any five ) : 1×5=5

(a) And even the _____ lives we lead are not allowed to
reach their natural span.
( miserable / sad )

/2 [ P.T.O.

( 2 )

(b) It was a dream of the earth as it will be when man
has _____.

( disappeared / vanished )

(c) In half an hour the jaguar had reached the cage and
was _____ at the door.

( hitting / lashing )

(d) He wants to be called a Seth but he hops it
on _____.

( ekka / foot )

(e) But _____ meant even more than money to
Sethji.

( dunning / religion )

(f) Jenny was _____ and had lately taken furiously to
reading.

( twelve / ten )

(g) The girls were still panting, flushed, struggling with
laughter. But Jenny _____ her sister.

( reproached / rebuked )

HS/XII/A. Sc. Com./Ae/20/2 [ Contd.

( 3 )

2. Write whether the following statements are True or False
(any five ) : 1×5=5

(a) Boxer and Benjamin were two young boars, whom
Mr. Jones was breeding up for sale.

(b) Squealer was a brilliant talker.

(c) Rod and his team could get the first glimpse of the
jaguar in a cave near the river.

(d) Sunrise is the likely time for a jaguar’s quest of food
and drink.

(e) The farmer who owed Sethji five rupees, lived at
least three miles away.

(f) Jenny was a year older than Kate.

(g) Robert feels cut off from his small girls.

HS/XII/A. Sc. Com./Ae/20/2 [ P.T.O.

( 4 )

3. Complete the following sentences using the right word
from the alternatives given in the brackets (any five ) :
1×5=5

(a) And love shall _____ thee like a fire.

( cleanse / burn )

(b) And she shall _____ her ear in many a secret
place.
( lend / lean )

(c) Takes in all beauty with an easy _____.

( span / mind )

(d) A _____ crowd of little hope.

( straggling / struggling )

(e) How soon my Lucy’s race was _____ !

( run / over )

(f) Spring’s honied cud of youthful thought he loves
to _____.

( ruminate / contemplate )

(g) The trip had _____ every face.

( saddened / darkened )

HS/XII/A. Sc. Com./Ae/20/2 [ Contd.

( 5 )

4. Write whether the following statements are True or False
(any five ) : 1×5=5

(a) In The Soul’s Prayer, the poet believes that after
going through much pain and suffering the spirit
will be purified.

(b) In The Education of Nature, Lucy is described as a
lovely flower.

(c) Old age in man’s life, according to Keats, is like the
season of Summer.

(d) The pilgrims felt that they had reached a dead end,
and so discontinued their pilgrimage.

(e) Lucy would learn to control her emotions like the
playful fawn springing across the lawn.

(f) During Autumn, Keats lets fair things pass by
unheeded.

(g) In the course of their pilgrimage, the pilgrims
quarrel over trivial matters.

HS/XII/A. Sc. Com./Ae/20/2 [ P.T.O.

( 6 )

5. Answer any five of the following questions in 2/3
sentences each, choosing either from Group—A or from
Group—B : 2×5=10

GROUP—A

(a) Why was Persome angry with her brother?

(b) The Bishop had a sense of humour. Illustrate with
an example.

(c) Why did the convict say, “I have a wolf inside me
tearing at my entrails”?

(d) How did the convict manage to escape from the
prison?

(e) Why did the convict seek the Bishop’s blessings
before leaving the Bishop’s House?

(f) Explain the phrase “this poor body is the temple of
the living god”.

GROUP—B

(a) What was Banquo’s concern about the prophecy of
the witches? What was Macbeth’s response?

(b) What had Lady Macbeth done with the attendants’
drink and why?

(c) Who discovered that Duncan had been murdered?
What was his immediate reaction?

HS/XII/A. Sc. Com./Ae/20/2 [ Contd.

( 7 )

(d) Why did Lady Macbeth herself take back the bloody
daggers to Duncan’s room?

(e) What made Lenox think that the guards had
murdered Duncan?

(f) What did Banquo and Macduff decide to do after
their King’s murder?

SECTION—II

( Marks : 20 )

6. Answer any five of the following questions in 2/3
sentences each : 2×5=10

(a) What is animalism?

(b) What were the weapons carried by Roderick and his
team for hunting the jaguar? Why did they carry
such weapons?

(c) Is Seth Chetaram a miser? Why?

(d) What immediate steps did Robert Quick take to
escape from the family?

(e) Explain the phrase ‘insatiate soul’.

(f) In the poem, The Education of Nature, from which
element of nature will Lucy learn ‘grace’?

HS/XII/A. Sc. Com./Ae/20/2 [ P.T.O.

( 8 )

(g) Describe the period of Summer in the poem,
The Human Seasons.

(h) In the poem, Enterprise, what did the pilgrims
“observe and put down”?

7. Rewrite the following sentences as directed : 1×10=10

(a) Dora is reading a book.
( Change the voice )

(b) A post without salary.

( Substitute one word for the
underlined words )

(c) He was so small that he could not reach up to the
branches of the tree.

( Rewrite the sentence using ‘too’ )

(d) There is no other city in India as big as Mumbai.

( Change into an affirmative sentence )

(e) That is not the way a gentleman should behave.

( Change into an interrogative sentence )

(f) He shot _____ the tiger.

( Insert an appropriate preposition )

HS/XII/A. Sc. Com./Ae/20/2 [ Contd.

( 9 )

(g) I am right.
( Add a question tag )

(h) My English knowledge is poor.

( Correct the sentence )

(i) No more can be contained in this box.

( Change the voice )

(j) The cow is _____ useful animal.

( Insert an appropriate article )

( PART : B—DESCRIPTIVE )
( Marks : 50 )

8. Answer any two of the following questions : 5×2=10

(a) Describe the rebellion of the animals and the
establishment of Animal Farm.

(b) Rod and his group thought of a number of plans to
capture the jaguar. What were the plans?

(c) Describe the role of the ekka driver’s wife in the
story, A Day in the Life of a Debt Collector.

(d) Compare and contrast the girls’ behaviour in the
garden when they were with their father and Snort,
to that of their behaviour at teatime.

HS/XII/A. Sc. Com./Ae/20/2 [ P.T.O.

( 10 )

9. Answer any two of the following questions : 5×2=10

(a) What does the soul of the poet crave for? What is the
poet promised by the Lord?

(b) “Thus Nature Spake _____ the work was done _____.”
Give an account of the work done in The Education
of Nature.

(c) What according to Keats are the four human
‘seasons’ ? How do they correspond to the seasons in
a year?

(d) What were the problems encountered by the pilgrims
during their pilgrimage?

10. Explain with reference to the context any two, either
from Group—A or from Group—B : 5×2=10

GROUP—A
( The Bishop’s Candlesticks )

(a) Mere Gringoire indeed! Mere Gringoire! What, the old
witch who lives at the top of the hill, and who says
she is bedridden because she is too lazy to do any
work?

(b) The knife, oh, well, you see, dear, perhaps he may
have thought that I—I had sold ours.

(c) I believe you want to convert me; save my soul, don’t
you call it? Well it’s no good, see? I don’t want any
damned religion.

HS/XII/A. Sc. Com./Ae/20/2 [ Contd.

( 11 )

GROUP—B
( Macbeth )

(a) I go, and it is done; the bell invites me.
Hear it not, Duncan; for it is a knell
That summons thee to heaven or to hell.

(b) Had he not resembled
My father as he slept, I had done ’t.

(c) Malcolm and Donalbain, the King’s two sons,
Are stol’n away and fled; which puts upon them
Suspicion of the deed.

11. Write a précis of the following passage and give a
suitable title to it : 8+2=10

It is sometimes said that the pleasure of giving is
peculiar to the rich, and no doubt the pleasure of giving
is one of the greatest and purest which wealth can
bestow. Still the poor also may be liberal and generous.
The widow’s mite so far as the widow at any rate is
concerned, counts for as much as the rich man’s gold.
Moreover, as regards kindness and sympathy which are
far more valuable than money, the poor can give as
much as, perhaps even more than the rich. Money is not
wealth. There are those whom we look down on as poor,
who may be in reality as rich as any millionaire. That
which is of most value in life is exactly what can neither
be bought nor sold. A proverb says—“A man’s true
wealth is the good he does in the world”. When he dies,
men will ask what property he has left behind him, but
angels will enquire, “What good deeds hast thou sent
before thee?”

HS/XII/A. Sc. Com./Ae/20/2 [ P.T.O.

( 12 )

12. Read the passage given below and answer the questions
that follow :
Mr. Ruskin called books “King’s Treasuries”. What he
meant was that as kings keep money, gold, silver and
precious stones locked up in their treasure-houses, so
there are great riches locked up in books; but the riches
in books are not gold and silver, but wisdom and
knowledge which are more precious than money. Kings
keep their treasure-houses locked up and keep the keys
themselves; but anyone who likes can have the keys
that will open the treasure-houses of wisdom and
knowledge. In the story of the Arabian Nights, called
Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves, the only way to open the
robbers’ cave which was full of wealth, was the magic
word, Open Sesame. The magic word, or the key, that
opens books, is reading: and anyone who can read, can
go in and take as much knowledge and wisdom as he
can find.

(a) What did Ruskin mean by “King’s Treasuries” and
why? 2

(b) What is the difference between the key to the
treasuries of kings and the key to the treasuries of
wisdom and knowledge? 3

(c) What kind of key was used in opening the robbers’
cave in the story of Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves ? 2

(d) Do you mark any similarity between the key to the
treasuries of wisdom and knowledge and that to the
robbers’ cave? 3

  

HS/XII/A. Sc. Com./Ae/20/2 20K